Fittingly, the formula used by the NCAA to sum up a quarterback’s overall productivity and efficiency is incredibly complex.

Yards,
touchdowns, interceptions, completions and pass attempts are all taken
into consideration. Each variable carries a constant multiplier, such as
8.4 for yards and 330 for touchdowns. Interceptions, which have the
multiplier of 220, are ultimately subtracted from the sum of yards,
touchdowns and completions. The grand total of that is divided by the
number of pass attempts for the final step of the equation.

Ultimately, the result will be somewhere in the 100s. The higher the number, the more efficient the quarterback.

Simple, right?

“Passing
efficiency kind of sums it all up,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “It
means the guy is making good choices and decisions. He has to be fairly
accurate with the ball. He's not throwing it to the wrong guys and
creating a lot of positive plays with his consistency, completion
percentage relative to eliminating the negative plays.”

This
is exactly what Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron and Georgia quarterback
Aaron Murray have done all season. The numbers, after they’re thrown
into this complicated formula, don’t lie.

McCarron,
who has thrown for 2,507 yards and 25 touchdowns with just two
interceptions, has an efficiency rating of 176.26. Murray, who has 3,201
yards, 30 touchdowns and seven interceptions, carries a 177.15 rating
into Saturday’s SEC Championship.

“I think these two guys have done it as well as anybody in our league,” Saban said. “Maybe as well as anybody in the country.”

They’ve
combined for 63 starts over the past three seasons, respectively taking
their lumps along the way -- be it a nationally televised swift pat on
the backside or a costly interception in a big game.

It’s
clear that both are peaking now, as they’ve done close to everything
that’s demanded from them within their respective offenses during their
best overall season.

They might be reluctant to admit where they rank among the nation’s best quarterbacks, but their teammates haven’t been shy.

“(McCarron’s)
been a leader for us all year,” Alabama wide receiver Kevin Norwood
said. “I'm very excited for him for this week to get to go up against
one of their quarterbacks who's also NFL-caliber and basically show his
talent.”

Ironically,
on this particular stage with two of the nation’s top defenses squaring
off against each other, the minimalist belief of “less is more” might
just be the key to success.

“Guys
can get in the middle of a game and make some great plays, but guys can
get in the middle of a game, try to do too much, put their teams in a
bad situation,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “It's going to be a
matter of making good decisions, managing the situations as they go.

“I think everybody is going to have to be a little bit patient in this game.”

That
certainly hasn’t been a problem for McCarron, who has been negatively
tagged as a “game manager” by those who presume his role in Alabama’s
offensive attack could be replicated by plenty of others. McCarron,
though, has shown a seemingly innate ability to rise to the occasion on
the game’s biggest stages.

At
last year’s national championship against an LSU secondary that was
among the best in the nation, he completed 23-of-34 passes for 234 yards
en route to offensive MVP honors. Against the Tigers this season, after
a miserable first three quarters, McCarron engineered the drive of his
career, moving the Crimson Tide 72 yards in 43 seconds to escape Death
Valley with the victory that ultimately afforded it the opportunity to
play for the SEC title.

“He
doesn’t get caught up in the hype, he stays calm,” center Barrett Jones
said. “A lot of people -- it’s a weird phenomenon -- when they get in
big games like this, big moments, they go rat trap and just forget
everything they’ve learned, they forget their reads and they just try to
do things they didn’t do in practice. AJ’s not one of those guys.

“He goes out there, goes through his progressions, his reads and plays the game like he plays it in practice.”

If there’s a knock on Murray, it’s been his knack to “rat trap” in Georgia’s biggest games.

He
came into the season with a 2-8 record against ranked opponents, and he
did nothing to improve his reputation in a 35-7 loss at South Carolina.
With Jadeveon Clowney in his face all game, he completed just 11-of-31
passes for 109 yards and an interception.

In
the Bulldogs’ 17-9 victory over No. 2 Florida, Murray’s numbers weren’t
spectacular -- he completed just 12 passes for 150 yards with three
interceptions -- but he delivered a game-clinching 45-yard touchdown
pass to Malcolm Mitchell, a throw that ultimately vaulted Georgia into
Saturday’s title game.

“The
guy’s extremely intelligent, extremely talented, and he’s an extremely
hard worker,” Georgia wide receiver Chris Clooney said. “When you have
those three things all together in one person, it makes for an explosive
playmaker.”

College football’s two most efficient quarterbacks took two different approaches to their respective weeks of preparation.

To
maintain complete focus Saturday’s game plan, Murray declined all
interview requests. McCarron didn’t change a thing, as he addressed
reporters during his customary Wednesday timeslot.

There was no need to complicate things any further.

“Don’t make the game bigger than what it is,” McCarron said. “Just another Saturday.”